Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday pledged to build a new town to house the thousands of people left homeless in the medieval city of L'Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Rome but for many the problems lie in the more immediate future.

Angela Camon was one of the lucky ones who survived but on Tuesday was sitting in a tent after escaping from her collapsed apartment building.

"I can't even bear to think of the future, because I have no idea what we will do," 37-year old Camon told Reuters.com.

She recounted tearfully how she and her husband jumped out of the window after her apartment started to collapse.

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Standing in the line for hot milk and tea, 70-year-old Anna Bruno wondered if she could ever return to the damaged second-floor flat in which she had lived for 31 years.

"If I think of going back to the house, all I see in my mind are those giant cracks on the wall. It's just what you think of repeatedly in your head," she told Reuters.com. "But I'm from here, I have to stay here, where else will I go?"

The owners of a Chinese restaurant in the town were closing their shutters, possibly for good. "There's no water and no electricity," one of the proprietors told AFP. "Who knows when we'll be able to reopen."